If you look at the clipart to the left of this page, you see the image of a person leaping somewhere. Is he leaping for joy or for fright? Both of those options bring emotions into play which touch deeply within the heart. I think too, that no matter what is causing him to leap, trust is most definitely involved.

Trust is the virtue that helps us take risks in life and part of the many risks we take is the risk to love another. Fear is part of the risk-taking process. Will he or she or they accept my love or reject it? Will my ideas and competence come into question if I approach my employer with an idea? If I disagree with another, will it cause a problem I don't really want to deal with? We seem to trust a lot in life, and find security when we begin to know who is trustworthy and who really is not.

Jesus left the apostles and disciples on that first Holy Thursday night and with a shuddering finality on the first Good Friday. Their trust and confidence was shaken to the core. Yet, we know the rest of the story. He did not leave them for long. He rose again!

I think the same pattern of trust, fear and trust again happens to us today. God loves us and we know it and sometimes are able to fall into the open hands that wait to hold us. Sometimes we don't even want to try to trust God with our problems. Are we afraid that we might be asked to change something about ourselves? Do we realize that God will never hurt us?

I think the apostles and disciples had a dose of trust and confidence when the Risen Jesus visited them many times to allay their fears. His mantra so many times to them after his Resurrection was "Peace" and "Do not be afraid." They trusted so much that, when faced with death, they embraced the martyrdom that was asked of them.

One of my favorite movies, Choices of the Heart with actress Melissa Gilbert, ends with her in heaven, reciting the well-known Footprints Prayer." When she gets to the last line that say, "It was then that I carried you," the expression on her face is so moving. She has gone through suffering and a martyr's death and yet, despite it all, believes that she had been carried by God, even though not spared the cost that would be asked of her as a contemporary disciple. Trust is like that.

Will you pray with me for an increase of trust in our lives tonight? Will you pray for those who are suffering greatly right now, and ask God to carry them?